CONSTABLE, New York — The second of two convicted killers who staged an elaborate escape from a maximum-security upstate New York prison three weeks ago has been shot and taken into custody.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said David Sweat, the escaped inmate, is in critical condition and that "the nightmare is finally over."
FREE APPS | NOW | FACEBOOK | TWITTER
- Man chooses beagle over girlfriend in viral Craigslist post
- 2-year-old Lucas' quest for donor liver more urgent than ever
- New state law allows officers to break into hot cars to save pets
- PHOTO GALLERY: Celebrities who have 'come out' as gay
Authorities say Sgt. Jay Cook spotted a suspicious man around 3:20 p.m. in the town of Constable, only several miles from the Canadian border.
Cuomo said the trooper opened fire after Sweat fled from him despite an order to stop. Sweat was taken into custody and transported to a hospital, where he is in critical condition.
According to New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico, Sweat was not armed when he was taken into custody.
Albany Medical Center spokesman Jeffrey Gordon said David Sweat will be transported there sometime Sunday evening. A trauma unit is standing by.
The Amish dairy farmer who owns the land where Sweat was shot and captured in upstate New York says she heard gunfire from her house but didn't think much of it until the police cars and ambulance started streaming in.
Verba Bontrager, who has run her family's dairy farm in Constable for the last nine years, says Sweat was caught just feet from an electrified fence where the cows graze.
She said she was chatting with visitors inside when she heard two gunshots.
Her children and a family friend then went outside and heard from a trooper that Sweat was caught.
She said her children had been home alone earlier, and even though she knew police were looking for Sweat, she never thought to be worried. Now, she says, they're all a little shaken.
The apprehension of Sweat came a few hours after his DNA was found Sunday on a pepper shaker where Matt was shot.
Fellow inmate Richard Matt was killed in a confrontation with law enforcement officers on Friday.
Authorities say the pair used power tools to saw through a steel cell wall and several steel steam pipes, bashed a hole through a 2-foot-thick brick wall, squirmed through pipes and escaped early June 6 from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.
Matt was serving 25 years to life for the 1997 kidnapping, dismembering and killing of his former boss. Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for killing a sheriff's deputy in 2002. A prosecutor says Sweat will be charged with escape, burglary and other counts.
A $100,000 reward had been offered for information leading to their capture.
WPXI
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
